Such implants are designed to be positioned in the bone structure.
One of the main difficulties practitioners find when inserting these implants is managing to position them correctly.
While incorrect positioning of the implant may not result in a satisfactory therapeutic result, it can also cause pain, paralysis, hemorrhages, etc. in the patient, which often require further surgical operations, or in certain cases can even cause irreparable damage.
It therefore becomes necessary for the practitioner to be able, not only to follow, but also to guide the implant during its insertion.
Devices that make it possible to follow the penetration of an instrument in an anatomical structure, in particular a bone structure, are known.
In particular, FR 2 835 732 provides a device that makes it possible to follow the penetration of a drilling instrument in the vertebra by measuring electrical impedance differences during penetration so that the practitioner can know, at all times, whether the tip of the instrument comes out of the bone cortex and penetrates a soft tissue area (marrow, nerves, tissue). In this case, the practitioner can modify the path of the penetration instrument to return to the bone cortex. Such a device makes it possible, therefore, to detect the formation of a crack in the bone cortex at the time of drilling the pre-drilling hole. For this purpose, the follow-up device comprises at least one electrostimulator capable of providing neuromuscular stimulation, which can be connected to at least two electrodes, at least one of which is located at one distal end of the drilling instrument, at least one inductometer connected to at least two electrodes, at least one of which is located at a distal end of the drilling instrument, and at least one signalling device capable of producing a signal in the event that the inductometer detects a change in the impedance.
Such a device does not, however, make it possible to follow up the insertion of an implant in the pre-drilling hole.